The Unlisted - a deep dive search of lost models with forgotten names

[NSD Bashe]

Or basically, in this post I'm going to explore defunct listings of particularly obscure toy fish.  Occasionally I even figure out how they were labelled or locate one of my very own, but not always...  While the actual finding of a rare and sought after model is definitely a highlight for any collector, I can find the search itself to be completely enjoyable in its own right.  I suppose it's not unlike a form of "lost media" - the hunt for information regarding a thing once available to the public, now fading away with time as permanent records simply weren't always kept.  I hence invite you on my odd journey through the submerged corners of the internet (ie old WorthPoint pages) to glean "new" information on these little known and rarely encountered specimens...


We'll start off in the shallower end; there were a couple eBay listings I saw for a rubber lionfish and pufferfish a little time back which I had occasionally thought about since.  I mainly recalled they had little triangular tags advertising their dangerous attributes, but otherwise had no memory of what brand they were.  Now since joining the Animal Toy Forum and looking through the Animal Toy Wiki I had realized they weren't listed anywhere that I could find and I became increasingly curious about the pair - and curious if there were any others in that set.  From the moment I saw them there was something unique enough they had stuck in my mind.  After scouring the web and trying variously to look through my old search results, I recalled at last there was this site called WorthPoint - a site in which I had found the remaining records of defunct listings from eBay.  And so I dug through WorthPoint, until at last I found:

the Accoutrements of Nature "death puffer":
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/10-puffer-fish-educational-toy-rubber-3838279960

and the Accoutrements of Nature lionfish:
https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/10-lionfish-educational-toy-rubber-3882476424

I had unearthed the hidden name of these two lost fish, and would go on to use WorthPoint again in my continuing search for these playtime relics and any knowledge I could discover on their origins.  And in time there was much, much more I found...

[NSD Bashe]

Just a note I will be adding more as I have made a number of new and weird "discoveries", including new context for some old aquatic friends of ours (as well as some things I guarantee none of us have likely ever seen before); but anyone feel free to add thoughts or discuss your own memories or experiences with "lost models" or any related tales of searching for the last remnant of their existence on the web.  This is actually a very fun concept for me and I only regret I didn't think of discussing it sooner.

[bmathison1972]

I 'have' that lionfish. Sort of. I had it, and it's still at my old roommate's house in Tempe. Maybe I'll retrieve it or have him mail it, if anyone is interested in it.

[Ikessauro]

While the actual finding of a rare and sought after model is definitely a highlight for any collector, I can find the search itself to be completely enjoyable in its own right.  I suppose it's not unlike a form of "lost media" - the hunt for information regarding a thing once available to the public, now fading away with time as permanent records simply weren't always kept. 

I do enjoy that myself, that's why sometimes I do focus in hunting down forgotten models. I  myself don't go often hunting for fish, more so for reptiles. Great topic idea btw

[NSD Bashe]

Oh yeah feel free to discuss any lost figures and not just fish (I mostly discuss the aquatic things because that happens to be a particular interest)  This thread can be for all sorts of obscure finds   

[sbell]

There is no oddity I'd be happier to come across than the slime hagfish kit seen here:

https://bogleech.com/blather-hag

Pretty sure it'll never happen. At least I have the one hagfish model I guess

[BlueKrono]

@sbell I only have the Octonauts version seen here. I think it was made in translucent blue and purple.
https://www.toytownstores.com/toys-c6/action-figures-playsets-c1/fisher-price-octonauts-midnight-zone-gup-a-playset-p2501

[NSD Bashe]

Octonauts hagfish are generally listed on eBay under the term "slime eel" iirc, just in case anyone was looking for one of those.  There's also a green version

[sbell]

I was not aware of that one...and it has a mouth!

I just have this one:
https://toyanimalwiki.mywikis.wiki/wiki/Fauna_Figures_Fishes_White-headed_Hagfish

Of course, I'm the one that had them made for sale, for a while.

[Saarlooswolfhound]

Looks like there are others... How could a tv show make this species **dare I say** cute? Now I may need one someday.

I have a figures that come to mind. But I dom't have any photos. I will try to post my stories here someday.

[NSD Bashe]

I'm going to give a brief glimpse at a few eclectic listings here; starting off we have a good bunch of the deep sea Discovery Channel Store fish, including the large Bio Beams angler:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/plastic-rubber-ocean-aquatic-water-3776046701

This was my first time seeing any of these.  I considered bidding and didn't.  Now its memory is here, fossilized for as long as the site holds onto it.  Every now and then I go back to it, examining odd little details in the gathering, just in case I missed anything interesting, such as another figure from the DCS set.  As it stands I currently have all the ones scattered amongst that lot as far as I can tell (plus a couple not seen there), but since there seems to be no official record of the complete set it's always possible I overlooked one or two within the aquatic myriad.

----------------

Next is a real oddity, not really a toy per se but apparently some kind of model kit for a giant anglerfish head; I actually put in a bid for this item but it just went way too high (not surprising honestly):

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/collapse-industries-2014-mikkel-3930745287

----------------

This one is also somewhat atypical, in fact a K&M plush of some abyssal fish which does not specifically seem to be named in the listing or images despite the tags being shown; I can only surmise it is some type of dragonfish:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/2000-m-international-dark-zone-deep-4634851500

Anyway it was unique enough I had bid on it but lost at the very last second, so all I can show you is the defunct listing. 
...I somewhat considered these lost replicas of the deep to be my "failures" - the ones I either thought about bidding on but didn't yet know just how rare they were, or simply wasn't able to obtain.  Part of my greatest disappointment, in a way, was that I might never be able to display them to finally get catalogued amongst the "known" animal replicas (aside from that first listing of course, since I eventually found those ones again).  However, even if I can't show photos of everything out there I am still able to at least draw attention to the WorthPoint listings which (for now anyway) have indefinitely retained their images and listed descriptions.  And that is really the most important element to this - access to information on these mostly forgotten pieces of art; whether I have the opportunity to provide it with my own photos or simply "discover" existing information archived down in the depths, I still got to participate with it in some manor.  Sure it can be a little sad to miss out sometimes, but I got to make this overly dramatized sounding post about it which was honestly fun in its own right.  And there are far worse things than losing an eBay bid (like becoming too obsessed with winning it).  The search can be fun so long as it stays in perspective, always remember that.  And best of luck on your own deep searches...

Next time I'll descend the next layer of this metaphoric continental shelf, as we begin to uncover a couple "other" versions of already obscure figures...

[NSD Bashe]

Now we'll start really deep diving...
I've discussed what little I've found of the obscure Bio Beams deep sea fish before; but this defunct listing has me slightly perplexed, as the figures here are purportedly K&M brand, yet there appears to be one figure that is nearly identical to (and ever so slightly different than) the Bio Beams ponyfish:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/lot-43-m-toy-plastic-animal-figures-3936943690

Was this a knock off or just a slightly different make used across different companies; or were they the same company; or did this one come first; or is it even K&M brand or merely mixed up in a collection alongside K&M figures?  There appears to be some possible lettering on its side, but I cannot read it - though this could have potentially cleared up the mystery.  Anyway, here's the old link to the promotional images for the Bio Beams fish so you can make your own comparisons:

https://www.coroflot.com/sheriinla/Toys-n-Products

--------------------

Now there aren't very many figures of brittle-stars; in fact I only know of 4 different ones exist.  Ish...  There is the DCS brittle-star I posted not long ago, and there are also Boley and Imaginext figures which have both been posted on the Toy Animal Wiki.  There is also fourth brittle-star you can see if you examine my last post, which included many of the DCS brand figures - a much smaller one, easier to miss if you're not looking for it.  I don't know what brand it is.  But that's not the one I'm discussing today.  Rather, I'm discussing the Boley brittle-star.  Kind of.  It's a figure I've been keeping an occasional eye out for some time.  I didn't see a lot of information about it other that the images posted on the wiki, but I did find a defunct listing for one - only it wasn't listed as Boley, but as BCLA, and it was just solid green rather than painted like the Boley version.  But very clearly the same mold was used:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-1997-bcla-brittle-star-4609755134

This figure is shown to have BCLA printed on its underside, and the one on the wiki is shown to definitely have the Boley packaging.  So the question is, was one of these companies the first to use the core model, or were they even the same brand?  No idea, since I haven't really found any information on that - though it could still be out there.  Anyway that one's not really some massive mystery so much as just a little oddity I stumbled upon.  (and here's the Boley brittle-star page on the Toy Animal Wiki)

https://toyanimalwiki.mywikis.wiki/wiki/Boley_Brittle_star

--------------------

One more thing I'm going to make note of in this post - which I was going to save for later since it's a more recent find on my part, but it fits the theme enough, and it also might answer a mystery we've discussed here before.  Possibly.  Or at least it adds another piece to the puzzle...
Now I won't go too in depth about the mystery surrounding the mini versions of the AAA fish since it's been discussed a bit in the deep sea thread, but basically since they have no brand marking no one seems to know for sure if they are in fact AAA brand or a "knock off" version - or simply used by another company who paid for the rights.  Well, it turns out these exist:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/wild-republic-small-pack-sea-animals-514697903

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/wild-republic-pack-sea-animals-471711830

I don't know for sure if that means they are officially Wild Republic brand or merely "no-name"/other brand figures incorporated into Wild Republic branded gift packs (not positive how that stuff works), but this to me implies they at least could be Wild Republic brand figures, whether composed of actual "knock offs" or more "used with permission" brand-to-brand I've no idea.  Anyway if not clearing the mystery up I hope this information is at least of interest to curious parties.


(Brief summary for anyone who doesn't want to read through all that: There's an alternate version of the deep sea Bio Beams ponyfish, possibly by K&M; there's an alternate version of the Boley brittle-star labelled BCLA; and the mini AAA deep sea fish might be Wild Republic brand.)

[widukind]

I own the K&M old pony fish. It is a wonderful rubber K&M serie from the 90s. In the set of aquatic animals by Wild Republic are sharks from this serie included, i can see the paper. I have 3 different anemone fishes, 3 different lion fioshes, bamboo shark and more, parrot fish....

[widukind]

Another rare fish figures are the Kenner girdled angelfish (you can see it one one of the worth point links) and the Kenner pufferfish and the rarest the Kenner picasso triggerfish. There is also a large Epoch cow boxfish and small Epoch coral fishes in Aquriums. A wonderful parrotfish by Kaiyodo

[NSD Bashe]

Wait a second, is Kenner possibly related to K&M?  If you're talking about the one I think you're talking about, I believe I've seen that same triggerfish listed as K&M, though it does look like it potentially fits with the puffer and angelfish.

But also, it's interesting you mention triggerfish, pufferfish and boxfish; as it happens the next thing I'm going to discuss will involve those types of fish.  As too will something I'm looking very forward to posting later on (perhaps the most out of everything I've found), but I am getting ahead of myself...

[NSD Bashe]

Just at random, I happened to find another WorthPoint page with the K&M version of the ponyfish:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/lot-12-ocean-sea-life-toys-figures-3778913311

Doesn't really add anything new I guess, just a slightly closer image of a rarely seen model

* * * * *

Onto today's topic:

Now this old online store called Tapir and Friends that doesn't seem to be active currently has been a source for a number of images of rare fish models that have intrigued me, primarily "alternate" versions of the AAA bottom dwellers.  However, there was one I more recently stumbled across, which wasn't a deep sea fish at all but this yellow and blue boxfish, which for some reason gripped my curiosity the moment I saw it:

Here is a link to the image:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Dan11Nil7Vs/TELeKVIYBpI/AAAAAAAA71w/YJ9POka7K8U/s400/010-box-fish-yellow-blue-f1945.jpg

And here is a link to the page, but note it works a little oddly - for whatever reason posting the link here only redirects you to the main page, but if you copy the link over to a new tab it should take you to the actual boxfish page; alternatively you can just google "tapir and friends boxfish" and it should come up: 

http://tapirgal.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-plastic-box-fish-at-tapir-and.html

There is no information on the brand (this site doesn't typically seem to list the actual brand name, but more a description of the model itself).  I have looked all over WorthPoint but cannot find any listing of it there.  I did strangely see one available in a huge expensive lot of random mixed toy animals and things on Mercari shortly after I learned about it, but have seen it nowhere else.  In my search to find what brand it may have been, I did also come across a rubber triggerfish on Tapir and Friends, and at first I thought they may have been part of the same set.  While the boxfish was listed as 4 inches, the triggerfish didn't exactly say for sure how large it was.  I looked through WorthPoint and, lo and behold, found that same triggerfish.  No mention of the brand, but as you can see this guy is huge:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/fish-rubber-likelike-toy-trigger-426266412

So they may not be the same set exactly.  However, this "squirting triggerfish" is quite similar to other large squirting fish, including a large pufferfish I actually have, which are from Club Earth.  Tapir and Friends also lists a "mega stretchy piranha" which I learned through an eBay listing to be Club Earth as well, which all helped lead me to the conclusion that the triggerfish is quite likely Club Earth brand.  But as for the boxfish I cannot find any more info on it specifically; however, I did find this curious listing:

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-plastic-sea-ocean-toys-puffer-2058832551

This is quite the interesting lot.  I actually have a number of these figures, including that weird looking anglerfish I'll discuss some other time.  But for now it's not the anglerfish that stands out to me, or the mysterious Mahi mahi dolphinfish that has been discussed in this forum as well, or the Club Earth pufferfish with one that is possibly its smaller kin...  But there you can see, a rather striking blue, green and yellow filefish.  It looks quite a bit similar to the design of the boxfish, in a way that it may well be from the same set; it is even about the exact same size.  Similar color schemes, similarly designed fins, similar bumpy texture and similarly odd little species of colorful reef fish not commonly depicted...  I am almost certain in my mind that these two are very likely the same brand and set.  What that is, who knows.  Also, I would not be surprised at all if there were more in the set. 

I am still on the hunt for more knowledge, but I do have one possible theory; they might be smaller than the pufferfish and triggerfish, however, they may be the same brand and just a different set possibly.  They do have a bit similar looking designed fin structure to the Club Earth pufferfish, and the smaller pufferfish looks similar in a way as well - Club Earth could easily have created sets of larger and smaller fish, and as Tapir and Friends seemed to feature a few other Club Earth models it's not a stretch to suppose the boxfish and therefore this filefish could be as well.  That's my best guess anyway.  Though perhaps I won't know for sure until I find them myself some day...

[sbell]

No idea about the figures, but Tapir and Friends became Tapirback, and is now under the name Collectible Wildlife Gifts https://collectiblewildlifegifts.com/

They're still active, although their range is pretty variable (and their primary model continues to be buying toobs/bags/sets and splitting them up individually for sale)

[bmathison1972]

I haven't been to CWG in a while, but looking around, I see A LOT of repainted knockoffs! Wow!

[sbell]

I haven't been to CWG in a while, but looking around, I see A LOT of repainted knockoffs! Wow!

Looks like a lot of AliExpress bargains.
I didn't say they were still reliable... just active!

EDIT - Looking at the freshwater fish (which would be most familiar), yeah, hefty AliExpress purchasing.

[MudpupWaterdog]

I had the triggerfish, pufferfish, and filefish. I think I may only still have the filefish back at home, but it'll still be a few more months before I can go check. They're all hollow and squeezable because they're intended to be squirt "guns." I'm pretty sure that they are Club Earth but I have long since thrown away the tags.

Not sure I've seen this brought up before on the site, but the Kenner girdled angelfish, pufferfish, piranha, etc are from a series of plastic aquariums called Wonder World. You could fill the aquariums with water and gel and then suspend the marine life, making it look like they're swimming.

Here's some '90s nostalgia for anyone who remembers the commercials.